It’s fun to get out, even if you don’t go very far. A while back, Desi and I went on a picnic one quiet afternoon at a nearby park. In the busy lives we live, there is much to be said for staring up into the sky and dreaming. Peace and quiet are things that need to be sought out sometimes, which is exactly what Desi and I did.

… and you know what, I didn’t get a photo of the wonderful spread of food we brought. Wonderful sandwiches, cheeses and bread, and great dessert too! I did, however, try out some infrared photography, which was quite interesting:

It is interesting to see the world in a way that we can never see it. Our eyes cannot see infrared, yet it bounces around the world just like regular light. It acts a little differently though – it reflects heavily off of foliage, and almost not at all off of water and the sky. It can make for some very surreal looking landscapes – portraits too! (you’ll find one of Desi in the gallery below). Colour in infrared photos are always fake, so you can play with them and have fun, or make them black & white. Photos like that can help me open my eyes, a wonderful thing to do.

Desi and I had a great time, definitely going to do this again

A little while ago, Desi had a wonderful idea. During the Doors Open Toronto city-wide event, many attractions had no admission fee for the day. We were able to take advantage of this and visit the Black Creek Pioneer Village for about an hour after work, and we had a wonderful time.

For those unfamiliar with the place, it is essentially an entire village center with various businesses and workshops all staffed by people in period costumes. The village is circa early to mid 1800s and was simply fascinating to visit. We didn’t have very much time so we didn’t get to see it all, but we definitely want to go back and visit it again when we have more time. They even had a fully-operational microbrewery built to 1850 standards and a blacksmith heating and bending metal with period tools:

Our quick visit to the village was a fun adventure and reminded us both a little of our trip across Europe. Full gallery below:

My cousin James just returned from quite an adventure through Eastern Asia and ending in New Zealand. On these travels we had been in contact via e-mail, and he told me to expect a package in the mail. A few weeks later, a very curious package arrived in the mail:

The package contained something that I was quite happy to receive; inside was a great letter and a wonderful gift from Vietnam – Rose Tea:

The tea is effectively dried rosebuds in a package, such an intriguing idea to use roses as an herbal tea! Interesting fact: Roses are very closely related genetically to apples.

Anyhow, Desi and I decided to try out the tea, and I found it quite crisp and very aromatic, Desi found it wonderful as well – a great tea with a unique story! Desi and I both thought it was a nice romantic gift for us to share.

We also made a cup of it for Desi’s mom, and I think that out of the three of us, I enjoyed it the most – I love these special herbal teas. Thanks very much for the great gift James, I’m still shocked it made it through customs without a problem!

Even though she is extremely busy, that doesn’t stop her creativity one bit! Recently, Desi created a painting for one of her teachers and I had the opportunity to see it and photograph it before it was given away. This is definitely one of my favourites, and I thought I would share it with everyone here as well:

When people ask me where I get my inspiration, the answer is often from art like this.

This year for Easter we went to Oakville to visit my aunt Cynthia and uncle James, and my little cousins Easton and Maddyx. I hadn’t been there in a while, so it was a really great visit. It was quite the gang we had there, many smiles and great conversations, not to mention the food! It was a wonderful Easter, and so great to see everyone again. One of the highlights, however, was when Maddyx decided to join in the ball hockey game on the street as the goalie:

It was a great light-hearted evening. Many more photos below!